The GenHERation^® 5 Questions series features our exclusive interviews with the most powerful women in the world to provide you with actionable advice on how to navigate your career path.

Michelle Kelly is the CEO of Lilly Pulitzer.

What do you know now that you wish you knew at the beginning of your career? 

Expect the unexpected! Some of the roles in my career that were “supposed to” be highly desirable turned out to not really be my favorite or most rewarding. And, sometimes a role that might have felt like a step back or a lateral move ended up propelling my career forward in unexpected ways! 

Which high school or college class best prepared you for your professional career? 

The accounting classes I took in college ended up being more useful than I expected them to be, especially since I never became an accountant. The professors always said it was “the language of business” and I was skeptical at the time…but they were correct!

In my MBA program, there was a class on “The Entrepreneurial Venture” that was very inspiring about the contributions that entrepreneurs and their investors make to the business world.  I imagine that was part of what inspired me to go work for Lilly Pulitzer when it was at a more entrepreneurial stage.

What is the go-to question you ask interview candidates? 

“Tell me your story!” 

Asking the candidate to start off with such a broad, open-ended question helps me understand how they define what is most important about them as a person. Of course, we eventually get into the more specific questions about qualifications and functional experience, but hearing how they would describe “their story” is my preferred starting point.

What is the biggest risk you have taken? 

The biggest risk I’ve taken is starting in the fashion industry post-MBA with no industry experience!

What is your genius?

Ha! Genius is a weighty word but I believe my best strength is a combo of three relatively un-genius traits that combine to work together for me in a powerful way: I am a good listener, I genuinely care about people, plus I am a pretty curious person. So, people share a lot with me, I ask a lot of questions, and then I tend to remember and care about what they said. Taken together, I end up getting a lot of information flowing to me from many different angles, which allows me to see and act on issues that may be percolating in the business, or external trends, or something that is needed from an employee or customer segment.  

You can learn from more of the most powerful women in the world here.